Monday 26 October 2009 04.00 EDT
First published on Monday 26 October 2009 04.00 EDT

Taking your bike by train in the UK needs a combination of luck, patience and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the rail industry. Why is it so hard to take a bike on a train when the usual alternative would be driving all the way?

I went away for the weekend recently, starting with a train from Guildford to Reading. The trains on this line sometimes have space for one bike, sometimes nothing. I had to guess where the bike space would be and then pray that it wasn't already be stuffed with luggage.

Then I had to contend with the volumes of other people, many of whom had bikes, bags, pushchairs and the like as they flooded on and off three tiny coaches in a hurry. Most of the bikes were stashed in the vestibule, ready to fall out of the train if the doors opened.

Irritatingly, the privatised rail system and a lack of interest from the government means that each company has approached the issue of carrying bikes in a different way. Almost without exception, full-size bikes aren't allowed onto trains entering London at peak hours. Similar rules exist for other cities, but those hours – and the level of enforcement – vary wildly.

There is no standard sign to advertise on trains and platforms where bikes can be carried. You can't reserve the single cycle space on the Guildford to Reading train – but if you change on to a long-distance train you must possess a reservation.

Other train companies have different demands on where and when reservations are required and how to obtain them. Sadly the only company that allows you to book cycle reservations online with your ticket was National Express, which doesn't look like it will exist for much longer.

Good cycle parking – which the government is putting £14m into over the next two years – can reduce the soaring bike theft at stations (double the level of five years ago, while car crime at stations has halved) and will no doubt encourage more people to ride to stations.

But better parking only helps if you don't want to use your bike at the other end of the journey, or it's your regular commute. If you're using the train on a day trip or to go on holiday, you'll most probably want to take your bike with you.

Leisure cyclists can bring vital custom to otherwise quiet off-peak trains – I've heard of early-morning weekend trains where cyclists made up over half of the passengers.

Even worse, the government is proposing that the longer-distance high-speed trains to replace much of the existing fleet will have even fewer spaces for bikes – with space for just four bikes on trains for 650 people.

At the moment there is space for just six bikes on the equivalent trains and even that is woefully inadequate. CTC is campaigning against this move – as we have with most other attempts by train companies to deny cyclists' custom.

Sixty per cent of people live within 15 minutes of a railway station, but less than 2% of train trips start with a bike ride to the station. If it was a bit easier to take your bike on the station, surely a few more people might give the trains another go?

• Chris Peck is policy coordinator for the CTC, the UK's national cycling organisation